This invention relates to systems for sorting mail pieces. More particularly, it relates to semi-automatic systems which operate partially under the control of a processor.
To date there have been two basic approaches to the problem of sorting mail pieces. For installations where there is a very large flow of mail to be sorted; on the order of thousands of pieces a day or more, large, highly automated systems which automatically scan mail pieces to determine their address and thereafter control an automatic sorting system to properly sort the mail pieces. These systems may use either highly sophisticated Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to recognize the addresses placed on the envelopes, or may use relatively simple bar code scanners to scan bar code which has been prerecorded on each mail piece. Typical of such systems are the OCR sortation system provided by the assignee of the subject invention to the U.S.P.S. In these systems highly sophisticated OCR systems were used to scan printed or handwritten addresses from each mail piece and automatic sortation equipment was controlled in accordance with the scanned address to properly sort the mail pieces. The OCR/CS system also included a bar-code printer for printing zip codes on envelopes in bar-code form on each mail piece so that each mail piece might be further sorted at local stations more efficiently.
Such systems have been extremely effective in sorting large volume mail flows, but are correspondingly expensive. Thus, while a typical OCR/CS system is capable of sorting thousands of pieces of mail per hour, it is correspondingly complicated and expensive and can only be justified at installations such as central post offices where the mail flow is great enough to fully utilize the capabilities of such a system and to justify its cost.
As noted, for smaller installations, fully automated systems relying on preprinted bar-code, or similar code, on each mail piece are known. However, in installations such as corporate mailrooms, where mail must be sorted to internal mail locations (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "mail drops") the sortation process has remained substantially manual, relying either on sorting tables, essentially unchanged for decades, or in some instances on manually controlled automatic sortation equipment controlled by an operator who reads each address and controls the sortation equipment accordingly. In either event, whether using a sorting table or a manually operated sortation machine, the mailroom employee directs the mail to the proper mail drop. Typically, the employee either makes use of a reference book to look up mail drops not included on the mail pieces to be sorted, or relies upon his/her memory to determine location codes. Relying on memory tends to be relatively fast, but also relatively inaccurate, while looking up the mail drop for individuals in a reference manual is relatively accurate, but very time consuming.
One approach to the sortation problem is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,759, for: SHEET DISTRIBUTING APPARATUS, to: Horii, issued: Mar. 25, 1986, in which coded address information is applied to mail pieces. In the system of the cited reference, mail pieces are presented to an operator at a work station, and the operator inputs the name of the addressee. If the addressee's name is not sufficient to uniquely identify the addressee, the system request more information, first the street number and then the full street name. Once the system is able to uniquely match the addressee with a record stored in its data base, the system then controls the printer to print encoded information on the mail piece. A transport system then transports the mail piece to a conventional automatic sortation system including a scanner which scans the encoded information and controls the system in accordance with the information scanned from the envelope.
Those skilled in the art will readily recognize that the system of Horii is essentially functionally equivalent to the above described OCR/CS system with the substitution of a human operator for the OCR system of the OCR/CS. Thus, the system of Horii requires both a printer and a scanner in order to sort mail; making such systems overly complicated and expensive for relatively low level applications such as corporate mailrooms.
Thus, it is an object of the subject invention to provide a relatively simple and inexpensive mail sorting systems, suitable for applications such as corporate mailrooms.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide such a system which will provide improvements in both the speed and accuracy of mail sortation with respect to manual sortation.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide such a system which does not require precoding of mail pieces.